Greenery has long been a favourite in the KLD HQ so we we’re pretty pleased to see the significance of this shade brought center stage again with Pantone naming it as their colour of the year for 2017.

From elaborate interior planting schemes to beautiful tones of marble, the many shades of greenery symbolise fresh starts, earthiness and of course the great outdoors.

Colour experts have also long documented the popularity of green as an interiors colour for its closeness to nature, suggesting that it is a colour we respond more positively to due to its association with all that is naturally occurring.

And it is for this reason also that many people cite green as being particularly easy to live with in terms of interior design.

And if that isn’t enough to convince you to go a little green, take a look at some of these beautiful spaces for a little inspiration…

This deep forest green covering the walls, unit, skirting, architraves and doors has a really rich and powerful impact, creating an opulent scene and the perfect background for the vibrant floral stems to really stand out.

A colour pop on joinery units is a great way to bring personality and colour to a design like this custom made storage in our Dublin Residence project.

By layering tones of green in the upholstery and using this green marble surround this is a restaurant booth becomes a slick and beautiful space.

Layering tones of greens can be so effective, especially given the variety of shades, from deep teals to light mint green and everything in between. However we also love the shade with a little blush pink. A wild card but one that works!

Combining green in interiors schemes such as the upholstery or paint can really increase the dramatic impact of planting in an interiors scheme like this stylish restaurant.

A blank canvas with lots of green accents can also be an effective way to make a space feel both colourful and interesting while still having that clean, slick appearance like this stunning kitchen design.

Paneling brings a great sense of depth and elegance to an interiors scheme and this mint green paneling with gold detailing in our Ranelagh Residence is a great example of an effective use of green paint in a design.

At KLD we believe that the spaces where we live and work should be as functional as they are beautiful and how we use storage is a great example of this.

An excellent way of achieving this is through clever and bespoke joinery that adds both to the design of your space, but will also ensure that it is functional for your needs.

From classic shelving, curved joinery to more dramatic colourful designs, and from kitchens to bathrooms and playrooms, we love how clever use of storage will really add your personality to a space, while having practical benefits in everyday life.

We have collected some of our KLD images for some exciting storage inspiration….

In a kitchen space, joinery is a great way to ensure that your space provides maximum storage, and in our Dublin Residence we used simple joinery on one full wall in the kitchen to provide a simple and seamless finish.

As always, we love to play around with shapes, and our use of storage is no different!  Again in our Dublin Residence, we used curved joinery as part of the kitchen instead of sticking to the classic edges for a more streamlined finish.

Keeping with the kitchen, an island provides excellent storage opportunities while also having the ability to double as a space where people can sit and entertain.  We love the gloss finished silestone island that blends beautifully with the kitchen in our Ranelagh Residence, while providing ample storage opportunities out of sight.

For homes with stairs, under the stairs provides a golden opportunity for extra storage – which we made use of in our Wicklow Residence.

We love colour and our storage and joinery is no different!  Bespoke joinery is an excellent way to add pops of colour to a space – we used  vibrant yellow in our Ballsbridge Residence in the children’s playroom to add extra personality to the room.

Finally, who says colour has to only be on the walls!  We all respond to colour, particularly in our homes and in our Dublin Residence we used a vibrant green to enhance the space – resulting in a playful feeling in the main living area.

Between mixing shapes, materials and colours, the sky is the limit!

In an ideal world office spaces encourage productivity, efficiency, and general employee contentedness. For most of us these are bright airy office spaces with beautiful views, private spaces and comfortable corners (not to mention working aircon).

Obviously we don’t all have the existing architecture (or budgets) to have the dream office straight off the cuff, but that ideal office can be achieved with smaller, more creative touches!

Colour:

We all respond to colour. Its reactive, it inspires moods, calms souls, brings joy and a touch of adventure! Colour is one of the easiest ways to add creativity to your office space. A painted corner, a coloured glass screen, a dash of red in a grey space to catch the eye, it’s simple but effective.

Decals:

There is a heavy cliché behind inspirational and motivational motifs in office spaces. If they are an integral apart of your office (or you feel your employees would benefit) why not add a dash of the creative in how they are applied? Go big and bold with large letters and decals across your spaces, mix up your words, fonts, and colours to catch the readers eye and hopefully bring a smile to their face.

Structures:

Division of spaces is perhaps the greatest avenue for creativity in your work space. Replace walls with installation-like structures. These can be the jackpot for adding colour, texture, decals all rolled into one project. Use a pod design to bring a softness to an otherwise structured work space, change the angles to break up the linear monotony. Have fun and inspire others in your workspace to follow!

Textures:

Materials are everything for us here at KLD. We like to mix textures and tones, a lot. Luxurious with hardy, gloss with rough, marble with, well…more marble. Texture applied in small doses can add value to office spaces. Rub off the banal feel of those fiber ceiling tiles with a canopy of timber slats, frame that squeaky whiteboard with a trim of brass, break the endless carpet sea with a corridor of beautiful architectural white grey concrete.

Furniture:

Finally, furniture. Practically speaking it has to be durable and ergonomic; we have to outlast the oftentimes grueling work day in it after all. But where possible, mix it up…throw an antique day bed in a casual meeting corner, garnish a corridor with a contrasting freestanding lamp, vary the armchairs in a client waiting area. Freedom in this will distinguish your office spaces and, hopefully, inspire pride in your employees, giving them that extra little something to keep them coming back, happy to face another day!

The colour Copper has been used in design for many years.

Its soft texture and colour are very popular among designers and architects that use this material in many different innovative ways. Not only material, but there is also a variety of metallic paints available on the market such as Hammerite paints that can be applied on metallic or wooden finishes.

It is commonly used in kitchen spaces not only as kitchen utensils or vintage pots, but more and more on larger areas like kitchen back-splashes and kitchen worktops. What became very popular recently were solid brass islands that were very eye-catching. A copper island could add a very stylish twist to a modern sleek kitchen space. If you are a copper enthusiast but prefer tones in smaller amounts, accessories are the way to go.

We love a combination of marble with a metallic shade like brass or copper. We have spotted this beautiful and affordable Miner wall clock made of slate and copper.  It’s simply stunning.

Another simple but beautiful furniture piece that we used is Swedese coffee & side table.

Lighting is an important element of any interior space that can not be overlooked. Copper pendants or over sized floor lamps are not only stylish and luxurious additions to your room but also reflect additional light around, creating an illusion of a brighter space.

Another way how to bring the shade into an interior is via kitchen or bathroom taps. Copper armchair or sofa details are certainly stylish and luxurious too.

Dark interiors were previously something people steered well clear of.

In the world of interiors and architecture we were fed a steady stream of light flooded, bright, white homes. And as such this is what the majority of us want, or believe we want. Brightness and cool colour palettes were held in the highest esteem by virtually everyone in the world of design.

But not everyone doubted the beauty of dark interior spaces, enter one Abigail Ahern who has done wonders for the world of interiors by showing us that black within the home really can be beautiful.

Abigail Aherne started a dark revolution painting everything in sight (walls, skirting, architraves, doors and windows – you name it!) in dark, moody shades.

Taking a bold step that would terrify most people, Abigail created a  home both unique and daring, but also stunningly beautiful. Her bravery was rewarded and she has led a subtle revolution in the interior design world, with more and more of us adapting to her way of thinking and without doubt being totally inspired by her work.

The reason most people fear black and other dark shades within their homes is because a) it will make the space smaller and b) it will make the space duller.

The images below will show you just how effective dark shades can be and demonstrate that when used in the right ways, dark shades can be utterly spectacular.

Afraid they will make a space smaller? Don’t be. In fact if its a really small space like a toilet under the stairs, a dark shade will have all the more impact. The effect of dark shades in smaller rooms is that they make the space feel moody and cosy in an instant.

Using a gloss paint is a great way to pick up and bounce some of the light around the space and will lead to natural highlights within the space.

Are you convinced?

Colour combinations are an enigma of sorts. For some, choosing complimentary colours is something they can do intuitively, others learn through trial and error, but for some they  just cannot get their heads around the vast world of colour.

If colour is something you struggle with we’ve got a few tricks you can use to help you navigate your way round the often confusing world of colour pairing.

Firstly, its important to clear something up. There is a misconception that an Interior Designer can walk into a room and instantly ‘know’ the colour that would best suit the space. This is far from the reality of design. Colour requires careful consideration and a colour palette does not just happen.

So how do you develop a colour palette? Inspiration!

Look to things that inspire you whether they be physical spaces, abstract art, places you’ve traveled to – there is no right or wrong. Look to magazines, the internet, pinterest, instagram to help build an image of the type of space you want to create. There is a wealth of resources out there are sure to help you arrive at your perfect palette.

A well designed colour scheme has a clear ‘feel’ to it. Consider what you want that ‘feel’ to be and how you can achieve it. Do you want it to be romantic but also a little edgy? Do you want a soft and serene space or a stimulating and productive environment? Colour is a powerful tool and has a definite way of creating a ‘mood’ or ‘feeling’. Check out some of our colour posts for more on colour psychology.

But how can you be sure what you are doing will look good? Colour, in particular, paint seems to hold a serious fear factor for a lot of people. The best way to have confidence in what you are doing is to create a colour board or mood board. Here you can paint the colours, stick on fabrics and inspirational imagery for your space to see it all come together before you commit to anything. This board will also allow you to tweak the design if there are aspects you are not happy with.

Its also really important to test colours out within the context of the space. Just because a colour looks great in one room does not mean it will work the same universally. Lighting plays a huge part so its always a great help to test the colour and refer back to it throughout the day to see how the colour changes with the light.

To demonstrate the versatility of colours we used the colour pink here to show how different one colour can be from one tone to the next, and of course how this affects the colours and particular tones it will team best with.

Pink is a colour associate with femininity and romanticism but there are so many variations of the colour. From pale pink to fuschia, there is a spectrum for each colour and a whole set of shades that might work well with one tone of pink but not with another. Here are some combinations for the colour pink that we really love:

Coral Blush & Earthy Green

Navy Blue & Musty Rose

Powder Pink & Gold 

Marsala & Dusty Pink